IRS: Inspector general probing hard drive crash

WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the IRS says his agency's inspector general is investigating a hard drive failure in connection with a congressional probe.

The probe is about whether the IRS singled-out tea party groups for tax-exempt status.

Commissioner John Koskinen (KAHS'-kihn-ihn) is testifying before the House Ways and Means Committee. He says eight federal employees experienced hard drive failures. That means emails related to the investigation could be unrecoverable.

Koskinen is telling lawmakers that a hard drive belonging to former IRS executive Lois Lerner was recycled and presumably destroyed after unsuccessful efforts to recover information on it. He says the inspector general is investigating that.

A week ago, the IRS acknowledged it could not produce some of Lerner's emails because her computer crashed in 2011.